It helps at times because many initiatives are worded in such a way where, "A yes vote will negate the validation of the proposed legislation by not allowing it go forward with. . ." and so on and so forth.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Representative Barney Frank, the outspoken, witty Democrat closely tied to the 2008 U.S. bank bailout, faces a tough re-election battle after 15 terms in office at a time when incumbency itself is a liability.

Challenging the Massachusetts liberal is Republican Sean Bielat, an Iraq war veteran, and opinion polls suggest Frank has an uncomfortably narrow lead over a political unknown.

In the run-up to Tuesday's congressional elections, Frank has faced a torrent of negative ads and mailings, much of it from groups outside the state who support candidates from the conservative Tea Party movement.

Last week, Frank borrowed $200,000 from his personal savings to prop up his campaign, saying he needed "to defend against outside attacks.
[. . .]
"If Barney Frank loses, it would be as significant as Scott Brown's win. You would really begin to see the depths of this anti-government sentiment," said Marc Landy, professor of political science at Boston College.

The shocking part was that they described Frank as 'witty'. Seriously?

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Who just happened to be members of their local Tea Party and were fired recently. The story given so far is that it's because of budget cuts, not political connections, is why the officers where handed their walking papers.

. . . West Tawakoni Mayor Pete Yoho has fired Officer Johnny Beckett from the city’s police department and also suspended for ten days without pay Police Chief Jack Schultz, after which he will be terminated. The offense alleged is that the two officers belong the Tawakoni Area Tea Party. West Tawakoni is a small town in eastern Texas with a population of about 1,500 people. In Hunt County, where West Tawakoni is located, Barack Obama received less than 30 percent of the vote in the 2008 general election, about the same percentage that John Kerry received in the 2004 general election, and a little less than the 32 percent of the vote which Al Gore received in the 2000 election.

Any termination of the police officers because of involvement in the Tea Party would not only violate the constitutional rights of the officers to associate with any legal organization they wished, but would also seem profoundly out of synch with the will of the citizens of West Tawakoni. The Texas Tea Party confirms the report of TexasFred and also notes that Chief Schultz had not only been on this small police force for 20 years, but that he also served as a volunteer fireman in the county. This story, if true, is evidence of an animus against the Tea Party which violates the rights of those officers.

In June, a video released on the Internet showed seven-term Congressman Bob Etheridge engaged in a sidewalk confrontation with a man in Washington, D.C. He grabbed the arm and then the neck of the man, who refused Etheridge's repeated demands to identify himself as he and another man videotaped Etheridge and asked if he supported "the Obama agenda."

Etheridge immediately apologized for the incident, but together with the national surge by the Republican Party, the video helped put his opponent, Renee Ellmers, on the campaign map.

The video is "Controversial" because Etheridge is a Democrat. Compare the coverage of this to what a mere supporter of Rand Paul did to a Move On Activist loon.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Today I received a plea for help from the Tawakoni Area TEA Party. They have a Mayor that is out of control and hates the TEA Party too. He has fired 2 long time officers for no other apparent reason than the simple fact that they belong to the local TEA Party chapter.

Should voter fraud be considered any less of a crime? After all, it is one group of people-- by and large, Democrats-- looking to steal your voice in an election.

And by stealing your voice, they are stealing the way you want the country to be ran and forcing their decisions upon you. All because they got the chance to have one man vote 3, 4, 8 or X amount of times compared to your one vote.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

This brings to mind the call of the Tea Party. What it lacks in dollars, it more than makes up for with it's numbers on election day. So if organizing and calling likely voters is a function of terrorists and extremists, then call me an extremist. It wasn't racism or bigotry but politics. Any honest observer of news can tell you that. Key word being honest.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

They are still an independent group operating on a local level in many aspects but have enough heft to pull off a national convention if needed.

I talked to a few people, some who didn't want to go on record, about the movement today. One concern was that the Tea Party has moved beyond its humble grassroots starts and has become a bit more automatized. That was necessary and inevitable though. It needed to compete with Move On and other George Soros funded activist groups.

For such a young organization, it's amazing to see how it's grown.

Long before the Tea Party had its name, many people were dissatisfied with how government was working way back in the George W. Bush years. With the growth of government under the Bush years-- coupled with the bail-outs, TARP and the other mini-stimulus**-- that happened, disillusionment was bound to set it among conservative voters. And John "Amnesty" McCain winning the nomination next didn't help either. Many people didn't see much difference between McCain and Obama other than scale and the letter after the names.

It wasn't until Rick Santelli gave his rant and said "tea party" that people were able to rally behind. The Tea Party name had the historical context that anyone with a 4th grade education in history can understand.* Bush heated up the water. Obama brought it to a boil.

Enough about that, pretty much anyone who has been really following the movement knows how it started. I needed something write about and post some more pictures of the event.

Ron Paul.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, former Sen. George Allen, Jamie Radke of the Richmond Tea Party, U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa and former Sen. Rick Santorum.

*Unless your name is Gwen Ifill and happen to live in Washington DC. Then you're an ignorant gutter trollop who has cruised through life thanks to affirmative action who can't pick up a historical reference when it slaps her in the face. Much like a pimp slapping his ho because she doesn't have his money.

**It was a mini-stimulus by comparison with today's standards. Again, this highlights the problem with Big Government Republicans. Why vote for someone who will do the job half-assed when you can vote for the liberal and show you how real wasteful spending is done.

*And he got into trouble over it although I don't know why. Other than saying the dreaded 'W-Word'(War. For whatever reason, the word ties a liberal panties up into knots), what exactly was wrong with what he said?

**A quick note to Eric Cantor: I've been hearing your election ads on the radio. Just so you know, it's not just jobs. It's about creating wealth. It's about fostering an environment that's friendly to start ups and businesses so they can grow without much regulation. Last thing entrepreneurs need is the heavy hand of Big Brother on their backside, picking their wallet.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Or. . . Been out of the loop for a few days trying to post something to make up for it.

Grand Valley State University may not have a Big Ten team like Michigan or Michigan State but they have something that neither one of them has. A Lip Dub club.

GVSU is also minutes away from Lake Michigan so there is that benefit with geography too.

For years if you wanted to go to Vegas from Arizona, you had to take the two lane highway across Lake Hoover Dam. Now with a 4 lane bypass just built, it cuts down the travel time for the people in a hurry to lose their money.

And you can see how the bridge was built thanks to the wonders of time lapse photography.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The classic problem with a single payer (Public option, AKA, government ran health care) systems is that cost often trumps care.

So what happens when diabetics need treatment and special shoes for their feet? Well, in Greece, when the cost reaches a certain point, it becomes a liability for the government to take care of everyone's feet who has diabetes. Instead of new shoes and regular treatment, amputation is the approved method.

This Saturday, one of Greece’s most respected newspapers, To Vima, reported that the nation’s largest government health insurance provider would no longer pay for special footwear for diabetes patients. Amputation is cheaper, says the Benefits Division of the state insurance provider

Quality of life? The Grecian government emailed me to say, "What's that?"

Monday, October 11, 2010

One more Republican who lost his primary supports the Democrat. What was that about conservatives having to suck it up and support McCain two years ago? That doesn't work both ways.

David Brady -- the Republican who lost to West in the primary -- also endorsed Klein. West beat Brady by a landslide in the primary so his endorsement isn't a big boost to [U.S. Rep. Ron Klein (D-Boca Raton)]'s campaign -- though if the race is close every vote could count.

I've heard this tune several times this year. Charlie Crist, Arlen Spector, Lisa Madcowski, and-- he's not running on an independent bid or third party, he did take his ball and go home-- Mike Castle.

I can't find where exactly but I believe it was Moe Lane who said that when filming, you need to do it in teams of two. One person being the obvious camera man, the other guy off to one side, capturing the entire event. Even in the worst case scenario and the main party gets arrested, the second camera man can slip away with the footage tucked safely away.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Richmond VA-- Dick Morris was speaking while I was trying to write this out. But I was having trouble connecting with the wireless and couldn't do the live blog of his speech. And it wasn't just me.
The most I could do was take pictures and update an occasional Tweet.

Morris was laying out how the Tea Party can help to take back the Government this fall.

It's really take back America to put it in general terms but some people on the left like to use that as a bludgeon by asking, "What do you mean, 'Take back America?'" Leaving that as an aside. Most reasonable people know what "Take back America" means.
I did have to leave early in order to pick up my kids. Bad timing because it was right when Gov. McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bolling were just introduced for their seminar onstage.

Have to find a balance between life and activism. I'll be back tomorrow with more.

I wasn't sure about this at first. It seemed to be a "Rah, rah, rah" type of video for the right. But after a few more viewings of it, it does ask the right question about Obama. Are you better off four years ago than you are today?

All dressed up with a cover of Radiohead's song, "Creep".*

I hope that most people will stick with through the end.

*Which will now be stuck in my head for at least two days. Good thing I like the song.

Why is the Commonwealth of Virginia doing in charge of these stores to begin with? Besides the obvious. They want the money from the sales and, more importantly, the ability to control the public's access to the stores.

The governor's plan for privatizing liquor sales was endorsed yesterday by all members of his commission on government reform, except for three Democratic legislators who think it will hurt the state budget and lead to more underage drinking.

McDonnell, speaking after the commission vote, said he will soon decide whether to call the assembly into special session next month to vote on his plan for privatizing liquor and other reforms recommended by the special panel he appointed.
[. . .]
McDonnell defended his decision to drop proposed taxes in his plan and abandon an assurance made in his gubernatorial campaign that a privatized liquor industry would generate at least as much money for the state as ABC.

"I said it would be substantially equivalent," he said. "I think we're in the ballpark."

The political challenge for the governor is building enough support to overcome opposition by Democrats, as well as concerns among Republicans about the loss of revenue in tight budget times; the potential social consequences of ending state control of liquor sales; and the fierce opposition of wine and beer wholesalers.

If the Democrats and some of the Republicans are concerned about revenue, the private sector can do a much better job of selling booze than the state government can. Private stores will have more access for the public, better hours and many stores already deal with selling beer and wine. What's one more shelf item that has the same restrictions? And the state will still collect whatever sales tax from the transactions of selling alcohol.

There will be the added benefit in savings. The state won't have to operate the ABC stores. Let the private store worry about personal and the liabilities running a liquor store. The privates store will have better hours and the ability to specialize for the area. Meaning more sales and more sales tax.

Private stores can customize their inventory. Places in Petersburg will stock up on malt liquor in 40 ounce bottles while stores in Midlothian will have Grey Goose and Maker's Mark in stock. Location.

As for the strawman about "For The Children"? Again, many stores already sell beer and wine. Teenagers will drink Natty Light if they get their hands on it. It's not going to change their behavior. Wanting to go out on a Friday night and get drunk at a party can't be legislated away.

Why Virginia has taken on the responsibility of selling liquor when they can just as easily pass it onto the public and still receive the same benefits from the revenue is beyond me. Especially when you consider that beer and wine is already being sold in private stores. Government should be a regulatory agency, not retail. It's not about access to booze but principles of the free market.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Even if he didn't vote in goose step unison with Nancy Pelosi for ObamaCare and pretty much anything else that came along, I still wand Etheridge to fail. Because of his drunken behavior of grabbing those two students who asked him a question.

In 1960, Linwood Parker was a leader of young, aspiring Republicans in Four Oaks, where he is now mayor. Parker was 12, and he says he thought the world was surely coming to an end when Richard Nixon lost the presidential race.

Since those early years, Parker, 63, has emerged as a go-to guy for Republican candidates campaigning in Johnston County. So his recent appearance in a television ad for U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Democrat, raised some eyebrows.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

School Teacher after giving her spiel to the students on trying to reduce their carbon output and a couple of students didn't raise their hand to agree: "It's okay, you can have a difference of opinion. No pressure."

Apathetic Students shrugs shoulders.

School Teacher presses button that blows up Apathetic Students.

Shocked Student: "But you told them no pressure!"

School Teacher: "I did, yes."

Shocked Student: "And you blew them up anyway? Without warning!"

School Teacher: "This is groupthink. There is no place here in groupthink for another opinion, much less apathy."

Different Shocked Student: "But we could have reasoned with them. Talked to them and argued our point!"

School Teacher, running her finger along the side of the button box: "Are you disagreeing with me?"

Both students shake their head.

School Teacher: "Then consider this your warning. Next time you'll be the ones being mopped into a bucket for a funeral."

WARNING: The video shows adults blowing up children but it's okay. The little brats didn't want to reduce their carbon output so it was reduced for them.

The teacher is asking if any students might abort their baby if they get pregnant and one or two students raise their hands.

*BOOM*

They are vaporized.

Something like that would be disastrous for the Pro-Life crowd. With the mainstream Pro-Lifers disowning the makers of the video and the Pro-Death crowd rushing to use the same video as a wide brush to paint the Pro-Lifers as crazed Taliban suicide bombers.

Not the most effective reasoning behind a rational argument.

But with the 10:10 group, they are people who love despotic regimes, hate dissent and control over the population gives them wet dreams so what else would you expect?

Updated: Added an explanation about the Abortion part. My wife thought it needed to be expanded upon. And dropped "gallon" out of the bucket description. They are British and don't use gallons but liters. That little detail occurred to me late last night.